In the art of network telephony, Internet Telephony and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, and Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is split into hardware-only solutions, software solutions, and combinations of these two.
VoIP refers to the transfer of voice data over packet networks, and in most instances VoIP does not interconnect with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). VoIP software in this regard is only a computer-to-computer solution. Internet telephony, however, encompasses VoIP and extends it to interconnect with the PSTN; these solutions allow for computer-to-PSTN calls (and vice-versa), along with PSTN-to-PSTN calls which are routed through VoIP networks by carriers. VoIP software typically refers to computer-to-computer voice communication, while Internet Telephony software refers to computer-to-PSTN, PSTN-to-computer, or PSTN-to-PSTN solutions that utilize packet switching of voice and data.
Research into voice over packed-switched networks (such as the Internet) goes back to the mid-1980s. However, practical applications only began once the Internet came into widespread use. VoIP technology is beneficial when compared to previous technology; it has the potential to allow carriers and phone companies to make substantial savings in transferring calls between networks, because unlike the PSTN, all locations and calls through VoIP cost a negligible amount in terms of infrastructure regardless of where the call is being routed to or from. The PSTN which has been around for many decades is based on dedicated circuit-switched technology; even when a telephony device, such as a home or office phone, is not in use the dedicated circuit-switched technology remains in place and is unused, “wasting” resources.
In contrast, VoIP, which is a packet-switched technology, allows the resource of the underlying network to be used to carry voice conversations only when necessary. This efficiency results in substantial savings of hardware resources. The hardware solution that allowed for such efficiency, however, has remained in the realm of the business enterprise, and direct access to the technology has been software-based and very primitive in the consumer market.
Initially, consumer-oriented solutions were completely Software-based. These software solutions generally took the form of a VoIP “chat” utility running on a computer. The computer would be connected to a network, usually the Internet, and would allow the user to have a voice conversation with others using the computer's microphone and speakers, or a headset connected to the soundcard. Such a voice conversation required having a computer running the same software on both ends, and generally would not allow calls to or from regular telephones or telephone numbers. Solutions in this field currently include MSN Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, and Trillian. Others such as Skype, Net2Phone, DeltaThree, Dialpad, Firefly, Glophone, MediaRing and a host of others allow outgoing calls to the PSTN via their networks. The more enterprise-oriented/standards-based softphones such as PhoneGaim, Xten's Xlite, Pulver Communicator, SJLabs's softphone, and others can be connected to VoIP carriers to place and receive calls to other SIP users and the PSTN for a fee, but this capability is not integrated into the Software.
While the technology and quality of service in this realm has advanced, the basic capabilities and limitations of such software solutions remain the same. Today these services allow users to call a regular phone number anywhere in the world at significantly reduced rates as compared to standard international direct dial (IDD) rates and in some cases receive calls from a real telephone number. However, the user is still restricted to accessing the VoIP service through the physical hardware of a computer. There have been attempts to connect such software to a VoIP adapter to use them with regular phones and phone lines, but these devices such as the Siemens Gigaset and adapters from Cuphone and PCPhoneLine only work as adapters with other software and therefore can't offer advanced functionality, nor are they gateways between VoIP and the PSTN.
Such gateways and IP-Personal Branch Exchanges (IP-PBXs) do exist, but have been constrained to the enterprise and small office space, not the consumer marketplace. The reasons for this include the large cost and nature of devices, the dedicated hardware required, and the technical knowledge required to set up the underlying network.
A recent attempt to solve the problems of moving VoIP technology into the consumer marketplace has been the adoption of smaller-scale VoIP adapters. These consumer VoIP adapters offer consumers the functionality of a normal telephone line using the Internet. The customer does use a regular telephone with the service, and the service routes calls to and from the telephony device through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). However, unlike the capabilities of the aforementioned enterprise systems, users are not able to directly interconnect their devices or access a local telephone line through the device because the calls are routed through remote servers which connect consumers' VoIP adapters to the PSTN. These services include those offered by Vonage, AT&T's CallVantage program, Packet8, VoicePulse, Broadvoice, and others. Recently adapters from manufacturers such as Sipura, Vegastream, Grandstream, i2Telecom, and Leadtek have expanded to include both connections to a regular phone set and a user's existing phone line, but many do not have gateway functionality to bridge these to and/or from VoIP services or any way to easily connect directly to other users. In addition, no service provider currently allows these devices to function as gateways on their networks.
Another solution is the use of Asterisk, the open-source Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system that runs on specific hardware and uses the Linux operating system. Such a system gives the user flexibility to customize the interconnection between the VoIP functionality and the PSTN. Such systems even include the capability to connect PBXs together over a network, including the Internet. Bellster is one such site where users can share their lines, but again, it is restricted to Asterisk and has little or no control capabilities or integrated Software. However, such platforms are very hard to get set up, require specific hardware, and technical knowledge of Linux based PBX VoIP systems.
The consumer-oriented, personal VoIP-PBX system detailed in this application would provide solutions to all of these issues. Such a consumer-oriented PBX would be easily connected and configured through a computer to send and receive calls, as well as bridge the PSTN with the VoIP network in both directions. Prototypes of such gateways exist, but are limited because they are not integrated with any VoIP Software/network and don't include basic telephony features such as both connections to a telephone handset and a line, caller ID, voltage monitoring, or line impedance matching. Another option is to integrate an FXO port into existing modems that are included in every computer sold today, a capability that is not currently available.
The concept of a virtual private network has been capitalized upon by enterprises which use the Internet to connect together their separate phone systems in different locations so that phone calls can be made across the world for free. If gateways are actually installed on all the premises, remote users can access another user's phone line and make a local call on it—essentially eliminating international long distance charges. With the personal PBX described above, such capabilities would now be in the realm of normal individuals, allowing them to share each other's phone lines easily and with security.
To date, the instant-messaging networks (America Online's, for example) have been independent of the hosted Internet telephone networks (Vonage, etc.). The hosted Internet telephone operators have concentrated thus far on simply replacing the traditional phone service with a digital one—without giving users any additional IP-functionality besides receiving voice mail through email or using a softphone. Ideally the users would be networked together so that users can pick up their phone and hear which of their contacts' are online, and users who are using softphones should be able to see other user's phones as contacts in their buddy lists.
One of the major problems has been tackling the issue of firewall traversal, which has traditionally been solved by connecting through a dedicated server which proxies signals to and from you to other users. With a peer-to-peer system this can be eliminated by having other peers act as servers for those who need it.
In addition, spam over Internet telephony (SPIT) and spam over instant messaging (SPIM) have become greater problems, namely because the user has to make a decision on whether or not to accept without knowing anything about the sender or the actual data itself. The proposed system calculates ratings for each user automatically based on their activity and feedback from other users. The same technique is applied to spam e-mail, the rationale being that once one person on the network receives and marks the spam as such, and the knowledge can be spread to the rest of the network to alert them to the e-mail as well. The advantage of such a system is that it follows and extends Metcalfe's law in that not only its utility but also efficiency increases as the square of the number of its users. By forging one united front and having shared distributed intelligence, the system defends itself and its members from spam e-mails. This concept has been implemented before with Vipol's Razor and Cloudmark, but has not been adopted in a peer-to-peer network that would allow its growth to flow unencumbered. In addition, current systems do not do automatic rating of e-mails or identities.
Current VoIP softphones can be used with Bluetooth headsets, but none of these programs actually have built-in support for making or receiving calls from a headset, such as a mobile phone that is within range. In addition, with the current invention the softphone can actually be paired with a handset to actually allow users to dial in numbers on their phone and route the call through VoIP, as well as receiving calls as you normally would with a mobile phone.
Ideally, mobile phone users would be able to directly connect to other users over a packet-switched connection such as GPRS, but currently this is too expensive and there are no softphones available that have this capability. The next step would be to have such a service integrated into the mobile phone operators' base stations so your number can be accessed both through a softphone and your mobile.
Only with the combination of a software solution and a hardware solution can users have a gateway that uses normal phones/landlines and VoIP technology and allows seamless communication with other users anywhere in the world with a minimum of expense and resources over a network, such as the Internet.
There have been attempts to solve some of the problems associated with VoIP. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,272 (2003), an “Internet switch box, system and method for Internet telephony.” This patent uses a USB connection with basic hardware to connect a phone directly to a server. There is no client software or connection to any telephony devices. Another patent is U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,293 (2003), “Application for a voice over IP (VoIP) telephony gateway and methods for use therein.” This patent describes a network topology using PBXs, but the network is not connected to a user's computer and cannot be configured using Software. Other attempts include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,700,956 (2004), 6,778,652 (2004), 6,473,423 (2002), 6,243,373 (2001), 6,345,047 (2002), 6,704,305 (2004), 6,760,324 (2004), and 6,438,124 (2002).
Other attempts include U.S. published patent applications 20030076817, 20030088767, 20030091177, 20030244940, 20040180624, 20040192292, 20020101860, 20020131577, 20030002476, 20040086100, 20040105432, 20040116108, and 20040116154.
Instant-messenger based VoIP software exists today, but is limited in functionality. Examples include Skype, Pulver Technology's Pulver communicator Software, Grouper, PhoneGaim, and Qnext. Pulver Communicator does not include file sharing and is not peer-to-peer, but instead routes phone calls through central servers. Grouper does not use existing instant messaging networks, and neither Grouper nor Qnext support Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) outside of their own networks, or social networking. Skype uses proprietary protocols in a peer-to-peer network for PC-to-PC calling.
However, these inventions still do not solve all of the problems associated with VoIP communications. Thus, it is desirable that for combination of hardware and software with the topology that yields a fully integrated Internet telephony system with advanced flexibility and a variety of communication means to be provided.